footwear - again?!

Yep, again. You bet your boots. Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaa. I kill me.

Those fallschirmjäger boots I mentioned in the last post, I forgot. I bought them a long time ago. Before my last growth spurt. I had a couple of growth cycles in my late youth. Once, when I was about eighteen/nineteen, when I grew about six inches in height. The second one was a few years later, after I bought these boots. My foot grew a full size on that one.

So, the jump boots are snug. They fit, but I cannot use my insoles. I have flat feet so I have special insoles made to provide support. I put them on with the insoles today and as I was driving out to the trailhead, I thought my feet were going to explode. I took them out and hiked the loop. It was okay, my feet survived, but these boots are very close fitting. I think they are made that way to provide support. Remember, these boots are made for guys that jump out of perfectly good aeroplanes. After that, their main means of transportation is hoofing it.

When I got home, I soaked them in hot water and have been wearing them ever since. They really will not stretch much, but it will help them conform to my feet more. It is just the nature of the design of these boots. I will do a few more hikes with them anyway, so as to get them to mold to my feet even more. Then, I will just use them as truck boots. They will come in handy if ever I have a breakdown and am wearing "silly-shiny-sissy shoes" or have an unexpected opportunity for a hike. Good thing they have a built-in foot bed.

Once I am done with further breaking in and they are dry, I will put them through the clean, oil, and buff process. Then, in the back of the truck they go.

My alpine boots are coming along nicely. Cleaned and oiled. Once the oil fully soaks in, I will apply that non-greasy dubbin to the leather and I will silicone the welts as well. I am just hoping this flipping snow goes away and they will become my main boots for hiking for now. The ground is thawing and the snow and ice are melting, but we keep getting dustings of snow. It really blows, because the rest of nature is moving into lenten mode.

Then I remembered about my everyday boots. A pair of oxblood, greased leather, Doc Martens, ankle boots. They have been cleaned and oiled. I will apply some oxblood polish, then the Leatherall 365 to "re-grease" them. Sometimes, it is a four or five step process.

The boy's boots are doing well too. I swapped out the newspaper inside and in a another day they will be fully dry and ready to use. They look almost new, except for a few scuffs on the rough leather. Good thing he has a pair of blue (one of the original colours), eight-hole, Doc Martens boots. These ones actually have a hiking tread as opposed to the usual, mostly flat one on most Docs.

Tonight I will stuff the jump boots with newspaper to draw out the water and in a couple of days I will clean, oil, and buff. Man, I love polishing boots and shoes. It is very meditative for me.